


The Visit

by UAs_Fics



Category: South Park
Genre: Gen, child abuse mention, super hero AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAs_Fics/pseuds/UAs_Fics
Summary: Mysterion drops in to pay Leopold Stotch a visit.





	The Visit

**Author's Note:**

> Contains implied/mentioned child abuse. Set in a superhero AU

He would have rather slipped through the window and snuck up on him. It would have been like old times. Leo probably would have gotten a laugh out of it. Unfortunately, Doctor Timothy had insisted Mysterion enter the mansion properly through the front door as a show of trust. 

The butler did not seemed all that surprised at the caped vigilante standing in the doorway. Mysterion didn't even need to flash his Freedom Pal's badge for the man to step aside and usher him in. 

"The Master is in his study. Would you like me to lead you there, or would you prefer to sulk through the shadows there yourself?" The butler asked in a less than joking tone. Mysterion didn't answer, instead purposefully walking past into a ray of sunlight cast by a near by window. 

The butler must have been one of Leo's old hires. Mysterion wouldn't have been too surprised if the butler hadn't been on the receiving end of one of his attacks back in the day. Most of Leo's personal staff use to members of the Chaos organisation that Leo quickly rebranded and name changed to keep them out of jail. 

The butler shut the door and wandered off, leaving Mysterion to his own devices. 

In the past, when Mysterion snuck into the mansion, he had to keep close to the walls and duck in and out of doorways to avoid being detected. He would use his unworldly powers to slip from shadow to shadow and distract servants and guards. Now, however, he marched up the large set of stairs and down the hall as if he were a member of the household.

Finally, Mysterion came to a large door. He reached up and rapped his knuckles against the hard wood three times in set rhythm, two quick knocks, a pause, then the final knock. 

The over-excited sound of footsteps hurried to the door before it swung inwards. 

Leopold Stotch looked at Mysterion with a wide, almost goofy-looking, grin. Green and red paint smeared across his cheek and a streak of navy blue across his forehead with a whole rainbow of oil paint on his artist's smock. His eyes even seemed to sparkle with joy at seeing the hero.

It was hard to imagine this baby-faced man was ever one of the most feared and wanted men in all the United States less than two years ago. 

Leo jumped back. "Mysterion, come in, come in! It's so good to see you, buddy! Do you want some tea? One of my staff just brought some, and it's got extra honey and lemon."

"No, but thank you," Mysterion shook his head as he entered the study. He glanced around. It had been a year and a half now since he, Tupperwear, and Toolshed had come in and removed all the machines and weapons and monitors. Now the walls were lined with stacks of canvas and shelves with jars of paint brushes, chalks, crayons, and all other assortments of art supplies. A single TV was affixed to a wall in the corner with the weather channel playing. 

Leo grabbed hold of Mysterion's arm. The hero let himself be tugged along towards an easel. The before mentioned tea sat steaming on a small table next to it.

"You have to see my latest painting." Leo took the canvas from the easel and held it in front of him. Pride beamed from his face. The piece in Leo's hand was a mess of colors and different textures, greens and blues and whites, and Mysterion couldn't for the life of him tell what it was suppose to be or if that was the point.

Mysterion frowned. He didn't grow up in a house hold that really appreciated the finer things, modern art being one of them. The closest thing he could recall print of Jesus in a fancy frame his mother had gotten from some free store or another. 

"Its...nice." Mysterion commented. "I like that...green diamond pattern."

Leo laughed. "Ok, you just gotta see it with the others, silly!" He ran past Mysterion and began to pick out some other canvases. As he set them next to each other on the floor, a picture began to appear before Mysterion's very eyes: an emerald dragon nestled among the clouds over looking a castle and forest. 

Mysterion whistled, impressed. "You painted all this?"

"Yup!" Leo grinned. "Took a while to figure out what parts to put where, but I did it!" He stepped closer to Mysterion. "I'm donating it to a children's hospital next week. Think the kids will like it? Or is the dragon too scary?"

"They'll love it," Mysterion replied softly. 

The two stood in silence. Mysterion gazed at the paintings, trying to take in the smaller details Leo had hidden. So far he found a blue birds nest in the trees and a little family walking along a path towards the castle. As he gazed upon the blue-grey stone of the castle, Mysterion noticed a figure in the tower window. Careful not to disturb the paintings, he walked around to get a better look. 

"Is that...?"

"Yup." Leo joined him and crouched. "It's Charlotte. I saw her on the news recently." He reached out and gently brushed his fingers over the woman in the window with a heavy sigh. 

Charlotte had been his fiance, until he was finally arrested for his villainous crimes. At first, she had stayed with him, proclaiming Leo couldn't be Professor Chaos, that he was being framed, but soon the constant media attention and rumors finally drove her away. The last Mysterion had heard of her was from an interview she gave saying that she hoped Leo got the help he needed. 

Leo fell back on his heels. "Hey, Mysterion, can I, um, ask you a question?"

"Of course," Mysterion replied. 

Leo rested his head on his knees, not looking up at the hero. "Do...do you think it'll ever be enough? Will I finally stop feeling guilty for all I've done one day or is this," he paused to gesture to the paintings, "all for nothing?"

Mysterion pursed his lips before going down to his knees. He placed a hand on Leo's arm but didn't speak. 

"Sometimes," Leo whispered, gripping his legs, "I wish they just had thrown me in jail. I wish my lawyers weren't as good. I hate them for that." He gritted his teeth. "I hated how they played up how badly my parents treated me and made me cry at the stand. I hated how they kept acting like the doctor who said I had dissociative identity disorder was right when I know he was a lair." Bitterness seeped into Leo's words. "I ain't got D.I.D.. Chaos isn't another personality of mine that I didn't know about. He _is_ me. I _am_ him. We _both_ deserve to be punished for everything we did."

Mysterion reached out and pried Leo's hand off his leg before he hurt himself. 

"I know, Leo." Mysterion said, slowly. "But maybe there is something to all that. Not that you have D.I.D., but that maybe you and Chaos aren't the exact same person." At this, Leo swung his head around and met Mysterion's eyes. 

Mysterion took a breath and chose his words carefully. "The Professor Chaos I knew always owned up to being a villain. He never denied that what he was doing was against the law but, he always said he shouldn't be punished for it. Chaos said he was doing the world a favor. That it was the lack of chaos in our society that made us so lazy and sedentary." He squeezed Leo's wrist. "He didn't feel any guilt for what he did. But you, Leo, you do. That's how I know you two aren't the same. Professor Chaos is gone. He's dead, and he's not holding you back from your growth like he's done for years. Do you understand?"

Leo swallowed. A layer of moisture covered his eyes, and he had to blink from tearing up. After a moment, Leo blew his nose against his smock and turned back to the painting. 

"You know, there is another person I know in this painting." Leo leaned forward and grabbed a canvas from the middle. He sat back on his bottom with the canvas propped up against his knees. It was part of the scene of the sky and clouds. He turned the painting towards Mysterion.

"Can you see him?"

Mysterion narrowed his eyes, scanning the painting. After a moment, he pointed. "There?" He asked. It looked like a person, a child, sleeping, their head resting against the dragon's foot. The child's hands rested over their stomach with a peaceful expression on their face.

Leo nodded. "Yeah, he's...an old friend of mine who passed away a long time ago." He pressed his fingers against the canvas. "He died at the hospital this is all going to. The doctors tried all they could to save him, but it couldn't be helped." Leo shook his head. "I hated seeing him waste away like he did."

Mysterion pursed his lips. After a heartbeat, he asked, "What's his name?"

Leo sighed. "His name was Kenny. We were only nine, and get he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy."

Mysterion took in a sharp breath that caused Leo to look towards him with a concerned expression. He coughed into his hand. "Sorry, I...someone very close to me passed from that same thing. I know how hard it is." 

Leo's expression soften, and he turned back to the painting. "I'm sorry I brought it up then." 

"Don't be. People get sick, and people die, that's...that's just how the world works."

_Unless they're me_ Mysterion added to himself. He pushed the thought and the guilt away. Until he finally joined Freedom Pals and started to live full time at the estate, he had been faking his death and relocating himself over and over. It had been the only way to keep everyone he cared about safe from his growing rogue gallery. His drawn out battle with muscular dystrophy had only been the first. 

'Kenny' needed to die for 'Mysterion' to raise. 

For split second, the truth pressed against Mysterion's teeth. He had to swallow to keep the words from escaping. Leo didn't need to know about their shared past. It would only hurt him more.

"Heya, Mysterion." Leo whispered, almost inaudibly, "Think they would let me take flowers to his grave? Or would that break my parol?"

Mysterion let out a shake breath he prayed Leo didn't notice. "I'll see if I can pull some strings and let you go, even if I have to escort you there myself."

Leo's eyes grew wide. He stared at Mysterion. He didn't try to blink the tears away this time. 

"Thank you, Mysterion."

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooooo, this was going to be for a challenge, buuuut I miss read the infomation and messed up so it's just a normal fic now. ^^;  
> Also, the wiki mentioned Butters is really artistic, and I'm sad that doesn't get brought up much. :(


End file.
